Should kerrigan die?

[skartalon]

K I know the Xel-naga can only be stopped by kerrigan and bla bla bla. But still, Kerrigan has killed and deadened worlds across the koprulu sector and has billions of lives on her hands. Should she die? If only after the Xel-naga are stopped?

[pure.Wasted]

The latest word from Blizzard is that Sarah Kerrigan and the Queen of Blades are two different people. Now, the characters in-universe might struggle with accepting that fact, but we as viewers don't really have that problem when we know it "for a fact" (ie, it came straight from TPTB).

If she wasn't responsible for her actions, then no, she does not.

I don't LIKE this re-characterization, but it is what it is. Personally, I'd have much preferred a genuine redemption. That's not to say redeeming a character like Kerrigan is easy. I would have enjoyed the writers struggling with the question "what would it take to trigger a redemption for someone so evil and make her want to change in the first place?" and the question "will it ever be OK for other characters to accept her redemption even if it's successful and not kill her, despite her turning a new leaf?"

Saying "oh yeah she was mind controlled" is a bit of a cop out to me, after she insisted so strongly in Brood War that she was completely herself. I mean, I realize that if she's mind controlled obviously she would say that and believe it even if it's not true... but it just doesn't make for dramatic storytelling, whether or not it all fits in the end. As things stand, this part of the story fits and makes sense, but I still feel icky.

[Louis]

I know it must have sucked to be abandoned and all, but her character wasn't really set up in a way that taking it out on billions of others without some sort of psionic or genetic manipulation would not make sense because infested kerrigan and original Kerrigan could hardly have been any more different from each other. The original games made it no secret that the overmind and then the UED intended on mind controlling her, so I don't see what your problem is so calling it a re-characterization is not correct. It's just you and Blizzard not agreeing with each other. There is no retconning in this.

[Twilice]

I think of Grom Hellscream when he drinks mannoroths blood. He is still Grom Hellscream but not "himself".

But we all know Grom Hellscream is an awesome character when he saves the orcish race from the demons slavery.

I just hope that Kerrigan will go a similar path with zerg (but zerg aren't "good shamans" as orcs once where) so they should not be made as a good race, only free to do what they want and their focus should still be assimilation of other races to become the most powerfull. But instead of doing it for someone else, they do it for themselves.

I am a bit unshure how I want Kerrigan herself to evolve around all this, maybe a split in the zerg faction? I know most of you don't want orcs in space and it might be to much "Sylvannas Windrunner" in this. But I think it could be a good story.

[Louis]

I liked Sylvannus. I've never cared enough about others opinion of WC like I do SC before now, but Kerrigan could probably resemble Sylvannus somewhat. Or not. Feels like ages since WC3, and I didn't give it much consideration.

[Turalyon]

I don't LIKE this re-characterization, but it is what it is. Personally, I'd have much preferred a genuine redemption. That's not to say redeeming a character like Kerrigan is easy. I would have enjoyed the writers struggling with the question "what would it take to trigger a redemption for someone so evil and make her want to change in the first place?" and the question "will it ever be OK for other characters to accept her redemption even if it's successful and not kill her, despite her turning a new leaf?"

This is exactly what I was hoping SC2 was going to be all about. It's a pity Blizzard chose such a cheap way to undo Kerrigan's past deeds.

I know it must have sucked to be abandoned and all, but her character wasn't really set up in a way that taking it out on billions of others without some sort of psionic or genetic manipulation would not make sense because infested kerrigan and original Kerrigan could hardly have been any more different from each other.

It's important to remember that "original Kerrigan" was an assassin. I believe it takes a certain mindset to be able to do something like this repeatedly and successfully - someone who does not hold life sacred. I've always seen Kerrigan's abandonment/ betrayal of trust (loyalty and trust are the two things she seems to hold sacred in SC1) as the one thing that tipped her over the edge. Had Kerrigan NOT been integrated into the Swarm and escaped, I would've still imagined she would succumb to the "dark side" and become quite grim but with limited power to vent her anger.

It just so happened that she was captured by the Zerg and then given untold power...

I just don't buy this split personality /pop psychology reason to explain Kerrigan's personality. If Kerrigan was "good and always good" before her infestation, a redemption is NOT really possible because in essence ("it was the Queen of Blades, not me!!!") she has nothing to be redeemed for. Not only this, it also renders Kerrigan's character development arc in BW meaningless and makes the whole character of Kerrigan up to this point, very shallow.

[GeneStarwind]

I thought the Dark Voice was a Void entity, not Xel'Naga.

http://starcraft.wikia.com/wiki/Dark_Voice

But are Xel'Naga Void entities?

[mr. peasant]

I don't LIKE this re-characterization, but it is what it is. Personally, I'd have much preferred a genuine redemption. That's not to say redeeming a character like Kerrigan is easy. I would have enjoyed the writers struggling with the question "what would it take to trigger a redemption for someone so evil and make her want to change in the first place?" and the question "will it ever be OK for other characters to accept her redemption even if it's successful and not kill her, despite her turning a new leaf?"

Perhaps you have answered your own question as to why Blizzard is making it this way. It would be very difficult to make it work (and people's mileage will still vary on the issue) and the task potentially too daunting for them to undertake, where as splitting them into two separate entities simplifies the issue.

I think of Grom Hellscream when he drinks mannoroths blood. He is still Grom Hellscream but not "himself".

But we all know Grom Hellscream is an awesome character when he saves the orcish race from the demons slavery.

Grom was an easier sell since he was at the heart of it an honourable person and his motivations for drinking Mannoroth's blood in WC3 was pretty noble.

[Kimera757]

I thought the Dark Voice was a Void entity, not Xel'Naga.

http://starcraft.wikia.com/wiki/Dark_Voice

But are Xel'Naga Void entities?

Zeratul says the Dark Voice lives in the Void and is some kind of Void entity.

He also said it might be a xel'naga.

[pure.Wasted]

I know it must have sucked to be abandoned and all, but her character wasn't really set up in a way that taking it out on billions of others without some sort of psionic or genetic manipulation would not make sense because infested kerrigan and original Kerrigan could hardly have been any more different from each other.

The main question facing any writers attempting a fantasy plot that traffics in better-than-cardboard characters and their development isn't "what bizarro plot devices can we come up with to dazzle our audience," it's "how do we use bizarro plot devices to show our characters struggling with the mundane?" Because it's the mundane that is relevant... and, surprisingly enough, interesting. The job of the bizarro fantasy plot is simply to present it in a fresh and compelling way.

Mind control, such as in Arthas's or Kerrigan's case, is absolutely worthless unless it is simply character development in disguise. It can come at the end of an arc, like Arthas, the middle of an arc, like Battlestar Galactica's Boomer, or the beginning of an arc, like Kerrigan; it can be extremely exaggerated in its implications (Arthas murders his father; Kerrigan murders billions of people; BSG's Boomer shoots Commander Adama); what it cannot be is irrelevant magic. The moment it becomes that is the moment your story loses relevance. Kerrigan's response to her betrayal may be exaggerated for dramatic effect, but it's understandable in purely human terms. Kerrigan being mind controlled and becoming a different person altogether is not. And when I can't understand a story in purely human terms, hidden beneath a shiny grimy surface of Neosteel Plating though they may be, I just stop caring.

Perhaps you have answered your own question as to why Blizzard is making it this way. It would be very difficult to make it work (and people's mileage will still vary on the issue) and the task potentially too daunting for them to undertake, where as splitting them into two separate entities simplifies the issue.

I have far more respect for he who tries for something that is too hard and does not entirely fail than for he who tries for something that is too easy and does not entirely succeed. Whether Blizzard cares about my respect in this is a different matter. Maybe if this was the only shortcut the writers took in bringing us WOL I would be more lenient.